The story is scattered over various passages in the Qur'an as
noted. Tisdall quotes Muslim authorities:
Azar, Abraham's father used to construct idols, and hand them
over to his son to sell Abraham would go about crying, "Who
will buy that which will hurt and not benefit him?" Then when
God Almighty commanded him to call his people to the Divine
unity, his father refused the call, and so did his people.
Thus the matter spread abroad till it reached Nimrod, son of
Cush, king over the country ... who took Father Abraham, and cast
him into a fierce fire; but the fire grew cool and pleasant
unto Abraham, who came out of it after some days. And thereupon
his people believed in him.
(W. St. Clair-Tisdall, Sources of Islam, pp. 16-17,
quoting Abdul Feda,
Ancient History from the Mukhtasar fi Akhbar il Bashar)
Again, in the Araish al Majalis we read: Before this, when
Abraham one night came up out of his cave and saw the stars
before the moon arose, he said: This is my Preserver
(Surah 6:76-79).
And when the night overshadowed him, he saw a star, and said,
This is my Lord; and when it set, he said, I love not those
that set. And when he saw the moon rising, he said, This is
my Lord; but when it set, he said, Verily if my Lord direct me not,
I shall be of those that go astray. And when he saw the sun rising,
he said, This is my Lord; this is the greatest. But when it set,
he said, O my people! Verily I am clear of that which ye associate
together with God. Verily I direct my face unto him who hath created
the heavens and the earth. I am orthodox, and not one of the idolators.
They say that Abraham's father used to make idol images and give them
to Abraham to sell. So Abraham taking them about would cry: "These
will neither hurt nor help him that buys," so that no one bought from
him. And when it was not sold, he took an image to the stream, and
striking its head, would say, Drink, my poor one! in derision, —
for his people and the heathen around him to hear. So when his people
objected, he said, Ah! do ye dispute with me concerning God, and
verily God hath directed me. ... And this is our argument wherewith
we furnished Abraham for his people. We raise the dignity of whom we
wish, for thy Lord is wise and knowing.
(Surah 6:80-85)
And so in the end Abraham overcame his people by such arguments.
Then he called his father Azar to the true faith, and said:
O my father, wherefore dost thou worship that which neither hears
nor sees, nor yet doth profit thee in any way, and so on to
the end of the story.
(Surah 19:42)
But his father refused that to which Abraham called him; whereupon
Abraham cried aloud to his people that he was free from what they
worshipped, and thus made known his faith to them. He said, What
think ye? That which ye worship, and your forefathers also, are mine
enemies, excepting only the Lord of the worlds.
(Surah 26:75-77)
They said, Whom then dost thou worship? He answered, "The Lord
of all worlds." "Dost thou mean Nimrod?"
"Nay, but he that created me and guideth me," and so on.
The thing then spread abroad among the people, till it reached the ears
of the tyrant Nimrod, who sent for him, and said: "O Abraham!
Dost thou hold him to be thy god that hath sent thee; dost thou call
to his worship and speak of his power to those that worship other
than him? Who is he?" A. "My Lord, he that giveth
life, and giveth death.
(Surah 2:258)
N. "I give life, and cause to die."
A. "How dost thou make alive, and cause to die?"
N. "I take two men who at my hands deserve death, one I kill,
who thus dies; the other I forgive, who thus is made alive."
Whereupon Abraham answered, "Verily God bringeth the sun from
the East, now do thou bring him from the West."
(Surah 2:258)
Thereupon Nimrod was confounded, and returned him no reply. The people
then went away to celebrate their Eed, and Abraham, taking the opportunity,
broke all the idols but the biggest, and then the story proceeds as
follows:—
When they had prepared food, they set it before their gods and said,
"When the time comes we shall return, and the gods having blessed
the meat we shall eat thereof." So when Abraham looked upon the gods,
and what was set before them, he said derisively. "Ah! ye are
not eating"; and when no answer came, "What aileth you, that
ye do not speak?" and he turned upon them and smote them with
his right hand.
(Surah 37:91-93)
And he kept striking them with a hatchet in his hand, until there remained
none but the biggest of them, and upon its neck he hung the axe.
(Here the text is quoted: He broke them all in pieces except the biggest,
that they might lay the blame on it.
(Surah 21:58))
Now when the people returned from their Eed to the house of their gods,
and saw it in such a state, they said, Who hast done this to our gods?
Verily he is a wicked one. They answered, We heard a young man speaking
of them; They call him Abraham. He it is, we think, who hath done it.
When this reached the tyrant Nimrod and his chief men, They said,
Bring him before the eyes of the people; perhaps they will bear witness
that he hath done this thing. And they were afraid to seize him without
evidence. So they brought him and said: Hast thou done this unto our gods,
O Abraham? He answered, Nay but that big one hath done it; he was
angry that ye worshipped along with him these little idols, and he, so much
bigger than all; and he brake the whole of them in pieces. Now ask them if
they can speak. When he had said this, they turned their backs,
and said (among themselves), "Verily it is ye that are the transgressors.
We have never seen him but telling us that we transgress, having those little
idols and this great one." So they broke the heads of them all, and
were amazed that they neither spake nor made any opposition. Then they said
(to Abraham), Certainly thou knowest that they speak not. Thus when
the affair with Abraham was ended, he said to them: Ah! do ye indeed
worship, besides God, that which cannot profit you at all, nor can it injure
you. Fie on you, and on that which ye worship besides God! Ah, do ye not
understand?
When thus overthrown and unable to make any answer, they called out,
Burn him, and avenge your gods if ye do it. Abdallah tells us that
the man who cried thus was a Kurd called Zeinun; and the Lord caused
the earth to open under him, and there he lies buried till the day
of Judgment. When Nimrod and his people were thus gathered together
to burn Abraham, they imprisoned him in a house, and built for him
a great pile, as we read in Surah Saffat: They said, Build a pile
for him and cast him into the glowing fire. Then they gathered
together quantities of wood and stuff to burn; and so, by the grace of God,
Abraham came out of the fire safe and sound, with the words on his lips,
— God is sufficient for me
(Surah 39:38);
and He is the best Supporter (Surah 3:173).
For the Lord said, O Fire! be thou cool and pleasant unto Abraham.
(W. St. Clair-Tisdall, Sources of Islam, pp. 17-21)
Interestingly, the story in the Qur'an was also mentioned in
Jewish traditions: